Monday, March 22, 2010

Corduroy Mansions

Alexander McCall Smith's latest offering is Corduory Mansions. Like the Scotland Street series the book introduces us to a series of characters living in or associated with a locality - this time a four storey building in Pimlico, a suburb of London. The reader enjoys the company of an eccentric group of characters including William, a wine merchant who is encouraging his adult son, Eddie, to leave home; Dee, Jenny, Jo and Caroline who share one of the flats; Oedipus Snark the politician and Jenny's employer; Barbara Ragg, a publisher and one time friend of Oedipus; Berthea Snark, a psychotherapist and mother of Oedipus who wants to write an unauthorised biography about her son; Terrance Moongrove, Berthea's brother, who lives in his own world in the country to name just a few. Not to forget Freddie de la Hay who comes to share William's flat. McCall Smith obviously enjoys these characters and uses them is comment on attitudes and misconceptions of our times.